Medical accounts and ancient autopsy reports imply that tertian malarial fevers caused the death of four members of the Medici family of Florence: Eleonora of Toledo (1522–1562), Cardinal Giovanni (1543–1562), don Garzia (1547–1562) and Grand Duke Francesco I (1531–1587).
All members of the Medici family hunted in the endemic malarial areas of Tuscany, such as the marshy areas surrounding their villas and along the swampy Maremma and were, therefore, highly exposed to the risk of being infected by Falciparum malaria. To determine if the original death certificates issued by the court physicians were correct, we carried out immunological investigations and then compared the biological results to the historical sources.
Bone samples were examined for the presence of Plasmodium falciparum histidine-richprotein- 2 (PfHRP2) and P. falciparum lactate dehydrogenase (PfLDH) using two different qualitative double–antibody immunoassays.
Our findings provide the first modern laboratory evidence of the presence of P. falciparum ancient proteins in the skeletal remains of four members of the Medici family. We confirm the clinical diagnosis of the court physicians, using modern methods.
Finally, this study demonstrates that immunodetection can be successfully applied not only to mummified tissues but also to skeletal remains, thus opening new paths of investigation for large archaeological series

Inserito il 07 settembre 2010 Letto 55055 volte

Malaria Was “the Killer” of Francesco I de’ Medici (1531-1587)Francesco was the first child of Cosimo I de’ Medici (1519-1574), First Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his wife, Eleonora of Toledo (1522-1562). He became Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1564, ruling until his death. Francesco was not interested in political affairs, which he delegated to his functionaries. Instead, he became a patron of the arts and sciences and a passionate alchemist. In 1565, he married Joan of Austria (1548-1578), and they had 7 sons. During this marriage, Francesco began a relationship with a Venetian noblewoman, Bianca Cappello, whom he married in 1579 after the death of his wife.

STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN AN ARCHAEOANTHROPOLOGY COURSE USING A CONTENT AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING (CLIL) METHODOLOGYThis paper has a dual purpose: on the one hand, it makes the first results of the excavations available to the widest possible audience; on the other hand, it describes the application of a CLIL methodology which uses a foreign language to study a specific discipline. In this case, English is used as supporting language to carry out a number of tasks on the archaeological site, within an environment of interaction where the peers, the archaeologist, the content and language teachers are working in collaboration.

Rheumatoid arthritis, Klippel-Feil syndrome and Pott’s disease in Cardinal Carlo de’ Medici (1595-1666)The skeleton of Carlo revealed a concentration of different severe pathologies. Ankylosis of the cervical column, associated with other facial and spine anomalies suggests a diagnosis of congenital disease: the Klippel-Feil syndrome. In addition, the cervical segment presents the results of the tuberculosis (Pott’s disease) from which the Cardinal suffered in his infancy. The post-cranial skeleton shows an ankylosing disease, mainly symmetrical and extremely severe, involving the large as well as small articulations, and characterized by massive joint fusion, that totally disabled the Cardinal in his last years of life.

Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is a common systemic disorder characterised by the ossification of the anterior longitudinal spinal ligament involving at least three contiguous vertebrae and by diffuse extraspinal enthesopathies. The condition is associated with the male sex and with advanced age; its aetiology is uncertain, but seems to be related to obesity and diabetes. The most recent studies in archaeological series demonstrated a relation between high social status and the incidence of DISH. The present study examines two cases of DISH found amongst the members of the Medici family buried in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence. The skeletons of the Grand Dukes Cosimo I (1519–1574) and his son Ferdinand I (1549–1609) showed the typical features of the condition. This result is related to the obesity of the Grand Dukes, attested by the written and artistic sources, and to the protein-based alimentation demonstrated by a paleonutritional study, thus furnishing further evidence to the significance of DISH as a life style.